Food Will Win the War: The Politics, Culture, and Science of Food on Canada’s Home Front

Abstract

When most of us think of Canadian history, particularly Canada’s involvement in the Second World War, it is unlikely that food is what first comes to mind. However, Ian Mosby’s new—and first—book, Food Will Win the War: The Politics, Culture, and Science of Food on Canada’s Home Front, invites readers to consider the primacy of food in the war effort in Canada. Mosby’s detailed and thoroughly researched account explores food as a material and symbolic resource that was instrumental in marshalling Canadians’ support for the war. Mosby also shows how the social, political, and economic changes related to food shaped the everyday lives of Canadians—particularly Canadian women—throughout the Second World War. Food Will Win the War is an important volume that fills a significant gap in the small, but growing, literature on Canada’s food history.